The best sports betting series in the second round of the NHL Playoffs could be the one between the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks. The Sharks were the top seed in the Western Conference but the Red Wings have the experience and the pedigree. Internet sports betting odds list San Jose as just a slight favorite to win the series.
Sports betting handicappers are actually predicting that Detroit will win this series. The Sharks were taken to 6 games by a very young Colorado team while Detroit was taken to 7 games by Phoenix. This series is all about San Jose trying to get the monkey off their back. The Sharks are picked every year to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals yet they continually disappoint. To get to the Stanley Cup they will have to get past a Detroit team that knows how to win. Three years ago the Red Wings and Sharks played a great series that Detroit ended up winning in sports betting.
The Sharks won in the first round in sports betting even though they got next to nothing out of Joe Thornton again. He has to show up in this series if San Jose expects to win. The Sharks got great play out of Joe Pavelski in the first round but they need Thornton to prove he is more than just a regular season hockey player. His linemates, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley were no better. If that top line struggles against Detroit then the Sharks are in trouble. Detroit has superstar players in Pavel Datsuyk and Henrik Zetterberg so unless the top San Jose line shows up the Sharks are overmatched vs. the Internet sports betting odds.
The goaltending battle should be interesting as Detroit has Jimmy Howard while the Sharks have Evgeni Nabokov. Howard played well down the stretch in the Phoenix series. Nabokov played well against the Avalanche but Detroit has a lot more offensive talent than Colorado. He needs to hold his own in this series for San Jose to win. The defensive edge might go to San Jose. Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom looks old but then again, San Jose’s Rob Blake doesn’t look very good either. Dan Boyle had the bad luck goal in the Colorado series but he may be the best defenseman in this series.
This is a great sports betting NHL matchup between two teams that know each other well. San Jose head coach Todd McLellan was an assistant with Mike Babcock in Detroit. There will not be many secrets in this series